Flexible & Intelligent Complex Systems (FICS)
Research Group
FICS research group is led by Dr. M. Ilhan Akbas, an associate professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, co-director of WIDE Lab, and a member of the leadership team at Center for Aerospace Resilient Systems (CARS) of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). Dr. Akbas has over 20 years of experience in the complex systems, machine learning, modeling and simulation and cybersecurity, including eight years of defense industry and enterprise level software development experience. Dr. Akbas received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where he conducted research at the AI Things Lab. His BS and MS degrees are from the Dep. of Electrical and Electronics Eng, METU. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, and a member of ACM, AIAA, SAE, IEEE Communications Society, IoT and Cloud Computing Communities, International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS), Complex Systems Society and Cyber Safety Commercial Aviation Team (CSCAT).
FICS operates at WIDE Lab in the MicaPlex building of ERAU campus. FICS research has been supported through grants from agencies such as National Science Foundation, Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Naval Research, as well as industry. We are always willing to find new FICSers and work with them on topics related to our research interests such as complex systems, agent based modeling, machine learning and neuroevolution. Please see our advising page for current and previous students and the projects page for our grants and contracts.
e-mail: akbasm @ erau . edu
Recent Highlights
Dr. Akbas is a co-PI in the recently awarded project, University Nanosat Program (UNP): Space Dynamics Laboratory NS-12 Program: COMET: CubeSat Optical and mm-Wave Enabled Telecommunications.
Our book chapter, "Machine Learning Methods from Shallow Learning to Deep Learning," is published in Shallow Learning vs. Deep Learning, The Springer Series in Applied Machine Learning.
Our conference paper submission, “The Achilles Heel of AI: Validation and Verification and an Approach to Tackle This Complex Challenge” has been accepted for presentation at the Aviation and Aerospace Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit.
Our journal paper, "Real-Time Detection of Sea Turtles Using UAS and Neural Networks on Edge Devices," is published in the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research (JAAER),
Our submission, "Real-Life Experiences in Using Open-Source for Autonomy Applications," is accepted for publication in the Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Symposium.
Our NSF REU ended for this year with a lot of fun memories, good projects and submitted papers. Looking forward to next year.
We presented two papers at the IEEE International Conference on Mobility: Operations, Services, and Technologies (IEEE MOST).
Our group and other participants at the EagleCam project are recognized on the US Senate floor. (Link to the statement)
Dr. Akbas gave a talk titled ``Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity'' at the Aviation Cyber Initiative (ACI) N-FACTOR Meeting.
Dr. Akbas is the PI of the ERAU CoE/Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety Collaborative Seed Grant for the project "Open-Source V\&V Framework for Artificial Intelligence Controlled Aerial Vehicles."
We presented two demos (PolyVerif and our Urban 3D ABM) at the 48th IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (IEEE LCN).
Our paper presenting our open-source autonomous vehicle V&V framework is published in IEEE Access.
Dr. Akbas is the PI for the FAA project, "Aviation Cyber Security Data Science (CSDS)".
The paper presenting our collaboration with Tallinn Institute of Technology to validate their autonomous shuttle is published in IEEE Access.
